Edward Dewhite Collins sentenced to 25 years in rape of child

A 23-year-old Chattanooga man will serve a quarter-century in prison after admitting to raping a child.

Edward Dewhite Collins pleaded guilty to child rape Wednesday and was sentenced to 25 years.

Prosecutor Charlie Minor, who handles crimes against children for the Hamilton County District Attorney's Office, said Collins will have to serve the entire sentence.

"In a first-degree murder case the defendant is often parole-eligible after serving 85 percent of the sentence," Minor said. "But with child rape it's 100 percent."

Upon release, Collins will be listed in the sex offender registry and will be placed on mandatory supervised probation, Minor said. He also will have to complete sex offender treatment.

The crime happened in August 2010. Collins had been staying with a family in Lupton City for about a week, according to records.

The father of the victim, a 10-year-old boy, told police he awoke about 4 a.m. and noticed his son sitting up in his bedroom watching television. The father asked the boy why he was up and what was wrong, and the child said that Collins had sneaked into his room and raped him, according to records.

It is Times Free Press policy not to identify victims of sex crimes.

Collins admitted to police shortly after his arrest that he'd been charged with other sex crimes, including rape of juvenile boys and girls and two women.

Contact staff writer Todd South at 423-757-6347 or tsouth@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsouthCTFP.